Ch. 278

“And about that altar. Do you also have Spirit Contract Formations divided into low-level, mid-level, and attributes?”

“Yes. It’s the same as you.”

“That’s strange… The Spirit Council systematized the Summoning Formation, which was originally just one. Why are the Dark Elves using it too?”

“Didn’t you know? When the Spirit Council created it, our Elves shared our knowledge and helped stabilize it.”

That was the first time I’d heard that.

I was ashamed, as a major in the field.

“…The books don’t say anything about that?”

“Humans think it’s their merit when things go well, and blame us when things go wrong.”

Zekarda often hit me with facts. My lord’s ribs are going to break!

“Humans weren’t the only ones who felt a sense of crisis when the Spirit of Curse first appeared in the world. The Elves, who were closest to Spirits, had known about the problem for a long time. That sometimes those blinded by greed summon dangerous Spirits.”

“Well, I guess so. You guys handle Spirits much more than we do.”

“What we didn’t foresee was how dangerous a being humans could summon. It was unprecedented for the Elves.”

“Hehehe… Our lifespans are short and our talents are mediocre, but we’re known for being wicked.”

“…That wasn’t a compliment.”

“I know.”

Zekarda would often look at me like, ‘What kind of human is this,’ and I’d puff my chest out as if I were showing off.

I’m a pretty rare human.

Take a good look. There’s only one of me in the world!

“After that incident… opinions converged between humans and us. The Spirit realm also felt responsible for preventing a recurrence.”

“Oh? I didn’t know that. It’s hard to hear about the Spirit realm. The Spirits don’t teach us even if we ask.”

“In ancient times, the Spirit kings used to intervene directly in the Middle realm. How else could humans and Elves have opened a new path? The four Spirit kings helped us.”

“Shit…”

The roots of what I’d learned were shaking.

I thought it was purely a human achievement! What an exaggeration!

“The Spirit kings began to refrain from entering the Middle realm immediately after that incident. When one Spirit severely damaged the Middle realm.”

“The Spirit of Curse?”

“Yes. The reason for the Spirits’ existence is ultimate balance and harmony, but they destroyed it, so the shock was great for both sides. But even God can’t stop the birth of an evil being.”

“So I’ve heard.”

It was someone else’s problem. I picked at my ear.

There was no way I’d ever get involved with something like that, so I wasn’t particularly interested.

I always feel like I get dragged in right after thinking that…

“The ecology of the Spirit realm is closely related to the Middle realm. The Spirits of curse, poison, and disease… their origins are in the Middle realm. All the things classified as dangerous were born here.”

‘The Metal Spirit must be one of those.’

I glanced at Rai.

“Since we can’t stop new Spirits from being born, what should we do? The Spirit kings said subdivision was necessary for stabilization, and humans and Elves actively agreed. They opened a new path from here to there.”

“That’s the current Contract Seal, right?”

“That’s right. But I heard there were side effects. Especially the despair of humans was great. They were confused, saying the Spirits had abandoned them. The Spirit Council collapsed, and many things were lost in the process.”

“Certainly… that was a tragedy for us. After that, it became difficult to summon Spirits, so Spirit Mages became very rare among humans.”

“The results would be different between the time when you could summon nearly thousands of types of Spirits and after it was reduced to about twenty.”

For humans, who had lower affinity than Elves and an overwhelmingly smaller number of compatible Spirits, it wasn’t just fewer options.

It was castration while still alive.

And yet, it was a miracle the field even limped along.

“The Spirit realm has changed too. It was originally as free as this place, but the Spirit kings created a system immediately after that incident. They established the four elements as the main force. They began to watch to prevent dangerous Spirits from crossing over into the Middle realm.”

“That’s why the Ancient Spirit Formation isn’t working as well as it used to, right?”

“There’s also a theory that they wanted to eliminate the Ancient Summoning Formation from the world altogether. But I heard it was one of the gifts God gave the Middle realm at the beginning, so they couldn’t destroy it in the end.”

‘Why would God give something like that?’

Anyway, they weren’t perfect either.

I looked at Rai again.

[How did you come? The Spirit kings are watching.]

[It’s not completely blocked, and I’m not as much of a surveillance target as they are.]

[Hmm. Does that mean you’re not dangerous?]

[More than them! It’s just that it’s really rare for a human to be compatible with me. There have only been three in ten thousand years.]

I learned a lot of new things today.

You can’t blindly trust books written from a human perspective, and Dark Elf knowledge seemed much closer to the truth.

‘I should go to the Dark Elf village and raid their library…’

I decided to lay the groundwork in advance and smiled brightly at Zekarda.

“Amazing! You guys learn differently than we do. As expected of Elves! The foundation of your knowledge is much richer and higher quality, wouldn’t you say?”

“Hmph. Spirits are a part of our lives, so the depth we deal with is different from yours.”

I almost said he was annoying, because I was clearly praising him to squeeze out more information.

A crisis came, but I endured it—and the men who had left the house returned just as I was getting excited about the Spirit story.

“Geenie, you’re awake.”

“You’re back?”

Ash was carrying a pile of turnips and carrots still caked with dirt, from who knows where.

“Wait a little bit. I’ll prepare breakfast soon.”

Behind him was Rovenin, holding firewood.

A well-prepared rabbit was set on top of it, so I knew that was today’s breakfast.

I nodded casually and was about to keep talking to Zekarda, but I froze when I saw the bruise on Rovenin’s face as he stepped inside and took off his hood.

The marks around his eye and jaw were obvious. That blue bruise on his indifferent face definitely hadn’t been there last night.

For a moment, I thought Ash had done it, but then I instinctively turned to Zekarda.

I’d overlooked it because he was already covered in scars, but when I looked closely, there were a few more bruises on Zekarda’s face too.

It was clear the two had been in a fistfight.

How dare they leave me out!

“You guys… fought?”

“So?”

“When?”

“While you were sleeping, oblivious to the world. I couldn’t stand that guy’s existence.”

I was genuinely indignant that I’d missed something good.

“No! That fun thing! Why didn’t you wake me up!”

“That blurry human kept stopping me, so I couldn’t finish it.”

“That’s just like Ash…”

“But I exchanged a few blows.”

Anyway, it was a big problem that Ash didn’t have any problems.

Why doesn’t that guy cause accidents? He’s so gentle he even blocks accidents around him… Ah, right. He’s a Crown Prince candidate.

If he had a personality like mine, he’d ruin the country.

“By the way, nice.”

I was staring at Rovenin with regret, but then I smiled.

I felt good, because the bruise on his face was so big.

I couldn’t help laughing when I pictured the moment he got hit hard.

“Nice?”

“Yeah. I see you in a new light for being able to punch Rovenin in the face. I think I might start to like you.”

I purely admired him and patted Zekarda’s shoulder.

I really hired a good slave.

He can reach him, so he’s more hopeful than me. Is muscle what you need to beat Rovenin after all?

‘I want Zekarda’s body… Your body is tempting…’

Maybe it was because I was looking at him with such greedy eyes—

“Gee… nie?”

Ash, who was washing carrots beside me, spoke in a sad voice.

“Yeah?”

“I… can do it too… I can do it… but… but… hitting people is bad!”

“…Ash, I’ll praise you too if you bruise Rovenin’s face.”

“I won’t do it!”

“Then don’t be upset.”

My stomach is hungry, so hurry up and make breakfast. Ash’s situation wasn’t much different from Zekarda’s, except he didn’t have a Suppression tool around his neck.

—

The soup, made with a lot of vegetables from the village, and the rabbit meat grilled whole, tasted a bit bland without any seasoning, but it wasn’t bad for breakfast.

Zekarda was a vegetarian, so he didn’t eat meat, and thanks to that, I got another hind leg.

‘Good guy.’

I should get along with him. It’d be perfect to eat chicken with him.

Whether he knew my favorability was rising or not, Zekarda only picked at the grilled vegetables.

I didn’t know if he simply had no appetite, or if his race didn’t need to eat much, but Zekarda soon stopped even that and looked at me.

Did he already finish eating?

“Hey, Blondie.”

“Call me Master.”

“……”

“If you don’t like that, then my name.”

What are you going to do if you glare at me?

I spit out the front-leg bone I’d been chewing by the fireplace and emphasized it.

“My name!”

“…We don’t call each other by our first names unless we’re family or lovers.”

“That’s your culture. Would you like it if I called you Dark Elf or Gray Head? Would you?”

“I don’t care.”

“I don’t.”

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Zekarda scratched his gray hair lightly, then spoke, more docile—as if he didn’t want to fight.

“…Geenie.”

“Yeah, tell me.”

“About that thing you asked me to do.”

That thing probably meant cracking down on the slave traders.

Strictly speaking, it was a condition for releasing his restraint, not a request, but it would be better for his mental health to think of it that way.

“What about it?”

“I’m going to get rid of it as soon as possible. I’m leaving right away from here.”

“Aren’t you going to rest? I’m not that such a bad owner.”

“That’s the condition you set, and if I have to obey anyway, I want to get it over with quickly. I also want to go back to my hometown soon.”

“There are other things I want you to do besides that…”

I never said that was the end.

I guess I am a bad owner.

When I gave him a deep, smiling look, Zekarda immediately growled fiercely.